Latest / YOUR AVERAGE DELTON / Episode 9: How Symbols Get HiJacked
Transcript
- DELTON DEAL: Hey guys, welcome back to the Average Delton. This is a space where we discuss real life, real loss, and the things that most people never see. No filters, no pretending, just truth. I'm your host, Delton. And today we want to talk about something that honestly affects everybody. Whether we notice it or not, I'm talking about symbols. Not just signs or logos. I mean the things that instantly make people feel something. The American flag, the rainbow, words like Karen, Brandon. DEI. And what's crazy is that most of these things started out neutral, regular, shared, universal even. But somewhere along the way, culture changed them. Politics grabbed them, social media amplified them, and now certain symbols feel like they belong to one simple group, one specific. And if you use them, people instantly assume something about you. So that's what I want to unpack today. Who decides what a symbol means? Can a symbol belong to everybody anymore? Or are we slowly giving away shared ideas because we're scared of how people might judge us? Because if we think about it, symbols only work because people agree they mean something. So today we're gonna talk about cultural ownership, internet influence, politics, identity, and how we got to a place where even colors, words, and names can start arguments. So let's talk about ⁓ the first topic is symbols. So what is a symbol? Anyway, a symbol is basically ⁓ emotional shorthand, if you will. It's something you see that instantly communicates a ideal without needing a whole explanation. That's why symbols are powerful. A heart means love, a peace sign means peace, a cross means faith to millions of people. A flag represents a nation. It's simple, it's fast, it's emotional. And historically, symbols were supposed to unite people. The American flag was meant to be. To represent everybody living under it. The rainbow represented hope after storms, positivity, promise, joy, pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Even certain phrases used to be regular phrases until culture attached a certain meaning to them. But now everything feels assigned, everything political, if you will. I think social media sped the process up like crazy because online culture survives on fast reaction, fast assumptions. Fast labeling, you don't get rewarded for nuance online. Really, you get rewarded for picking a side quickly. So symbols become shortcuts for identity. People don't just see a thing anymore, they see teams. And the one symbol becomes tied to a team, conflict starts. Team is winning and losing. So we really want to take a look and talk about that and how that relates to the American flag. Now regardless of politics, think about this honestly. When you see someone heavily displaying the American flag today, a lot of people automatically assume political beliefs. That wasn't always the case. At one point, the flag mostly symbolized unity, sacrifice, freedom, service, national pride. It represents the country as a whole. But over time, certain political groups displayed it louder, more aggressively, more consistently than others. And eventually people started mentally connecting The symbol with those groups, specifically MAGA. Now here's the important part. Did the symbol change itself? No. What changed was the perception, and perceptions become reality in culture. That's the part that people underestimate. If enough people represent the association long enough, eventually society accepts it as truth. Now suddenly some people feel uncomfortable displaying the flag because they don't want the assumptions to be attached to them. Think about how strange that really is. A national symbol becoming socially risky depending on the audience you're around. That says a lot about where we are culturally right now. And honestly, I don't think it was one side that stole the symbol. I think it's a bigger issue than that. Then other people stop participating in it. Other people just stop. Because once a group consistently represents something while everybody else distances themselves from it, eventually public perception shifts. Silence creates ownership too. That applies to more things than just flags. Look at the rainbow. I mean the rainbow, historically the rainbow symbolizes hope, promise, peace, happiness, creativity. You saw rainbows in children's books, art, churches, classrooms, cartoons, everywhere. Then over time the LGBTQ plus community adopted the rainbow as a symbol of identity. Inclusion, pride. And today for many people, that is now the primary meaning they associated with it. Now listen carefully because nuance matters here. This conversation is not about whether that's good or bad. It's about understanding how symbols evolve culturally. That's the topic, because symbols are living things socially. Meanings change depending on who uses them most visibly and consistently. That's how culture works. Because what's interesting is how people react emotionally to those changes. Some people embrace the new meaning completely, others feels like the symbol becomes narrowed politically or socially. And some people feel awkward using it because they worry what others are going to make about them, what those assumptions might be. Again, perception, that's the pattern. And honestly, maybe the real question is, can symbols hold multiple meanings at the same time anymore? Can two things be true? Or has society become so polarized that everything eventually gets assigned to a side? Because it feels like people increasingly believe symbols must mean one thing or the other. And once culture locks into the meaning, people either adopt it or avoid it. Now, here's where things get even crazier. Sometimes cultural doesn't just take a symbol, it can take a name. I mean, think about this for a minute. Karen. At one point, Karen was just somebody's mom, somebody's aunt. Somebody's coworker, somebody's friend, a regular name, the internet culture transformed it into a stereotype overnight. Now when people hear Karen, they picture a specific type of person immediately demanding, entitled, always asking for the manager, maybe even racist. And what's wild is real people named Karen had zero control over the transformation. Culture just decided it. Listen, I named one of my sons Brandon. And wouldn't you know it? The same thing happened to Brandon. Let's go, Brandon, turned an ordinary name into a political slogan and a coded phrase. Again, regular people with that name got pulled into something much larger than themselves. Yeah, and that shows how quickly internet culture can hijack meaning. Means move faster than logic, faster than nuance, faster than content. And once a joke, a phrase, a stereotype catches online, it becomes part of the culture whether we like it or not. Now that's powerful. But it's also dangerous because simplification strips away humanity. People become caricatures, names become punchlines, and symbols stop representing complexity. Everything gets reduced into quick emotional reaction. That's basically modern internet culture in a sentence. Now here's the deeper part of this whole conversation. Why do we give symbols away so easily? I think the answer is fear, fear of judgment, fear of assumptions. Fear of conflict. Once a symbol brings conflict, a lot of people quickly back away from it instead of continuing to define it for themselves. And when moderate voices disappear, louder voices dominate the meaning. Now that happens politically, socially, culturally, online especially, because attention always amplifies extreme. The loudest users shape perception for everybody else and eventually. People start believing those loud voices represent the whole group. But maybe they don't. Maybe we can do something about that. Maybe most people still see symbols in broader ways. Maybe the internet just makes the vision look bigger than it really is. That's possible too, I think. But either way, one thing is clear. If you completely stop engaging in a symbol, phrase, idea, someone will define it for you. That's just simply how culture works. And honestly, maybe we've become too obsessed with With turning everything into teams. Everything doesn't have to become tribal. Everything doesn't have to be mine or yours. Something should belong to everybody. Or at least allow room for multiple meanings. Because once society loses shared symbols completely division, it gets even deeper. Guys, that's all I got for today. I'm your average Delton, and this is just the beginning of what I hope is a long conversation. Remember, your life is the only sermon some people will ever hear. Make it loud. And I'll leave you with this. If tomorrow the things were gone, I'd worked for my whole life and I had to start again with just my children and my wife. I think my lucky stars to be living here today Cause the flag still stands for freedom and they can't take that away And I'm proud to be an American Cause at least I know I'm free and I won't forget the man who died who gave that right to be I'll gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today. Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land. God bless the USA Hey guys, I'm your average Delvin Al.